What is a Brushless Motor? How Does It Work and What is Its Structure?

The motor that the customer inquired has the same structure as a motor that is connected to a battery. Inside the motor, there are electrodes called "brushes" and commutators, and the two come into contact with each other to mechanically switch the current to rotate the motor.
A motor with this structure is called a DC motor with brushes. [Figure 1]

Brushes and commutators? Hmm. Oriental Motor also has brushless motors with the word "brush" in them. Are they related?

Brushless motors have a slightly different structure.
Instead of mechanical contacts such as brushes and commutators, the motor is driven by an electronic circuit (drive circuit) consisting of power elements like transistors, which switch the current electrically.

I see! Brushless, as the name implies, means that there are no brushes.

That's right!

I understood the difference between motors with and without brushes from your description, but is there any difference when customers use them?

Yes, the biggest difference is maintainability.
DC motors with brushes wear out because the brushes and commutator electrodes are in contact with each other as they rotate. That's why they always need replacement maintenance.
But brushless motors don't need maintenance because they use electronic circuits (drivers).

I understand. Brushless motors don't require maintenance work for the customer. Maintainability is also important for the customers.

Also the stability of the motor's rotation speed.
DC motors with brushes change their rotation speed when the load changes, but brushless motors can provide stable speed control even when the load changes. That's because they're equipped with a magnetic sensor called a hall effect IC, which performs feedback control to check the status of the motor. It will also stop the motor and output an alarm signal in the event of an overload, poor cable connection, disconnection, and other abnormality. [Figure 2]

I see. Brushless motors have a lot of depth.

Exactly. Actually, there are more benefits, such as energy savings. Vex, did you know there's an e-Learning program (Brushless Motor Basics)?

I know there is, but I haven't seen it...

I recommend it because you can systematically learn about brushless motors, their structure, principle of operation, and advantages.

Yes, I got it! I'll use the e-Learning to study! The inquiry from the customer earlier was about replacing a DC motor with brushes, so I'll do my best to explain the many advantages of brushless motors and the maintenance-free features that I've just learned about in order to help the replacement.